U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,822 to Quate describes a data storage medium on which, using an STM with a probe tip, indicia are written by forming perturbations on the surface of a substrate. The indicia are then read by scanning over the indicia with the tip of the STM.
The most pertinent prior art of which applicant is aware is U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,732 to Kazan, which also describes several embodiments of a recording medium. One comprises a substrate having a surface coated with a monolayer of atoms and from which atoms are selectively removed by modulating the input signal to an STM tip to write indicia. Another embodiment comprises a substrate having a surface onto which atoms are selectively deposited to write indicia. In both embodiments, the STM is used to read back information by imaging the surface.
An article by Becker et al. entitled "Atomic-scale 2 Surface Modifications Using a Tunneling Microscope", published in the Jan. 29, 1987, issue of Nature, pp. 419-421, describes writing an atomic-scale "bit" by raising the STM tip to substrate bias from -1.0 V to -4.0 V at a quiescent tunnel current of 20 pA while the tip is maintained laterally stationary over the site chosen for modification, then rapidly withdrawing the tip. However, this article does not teach repositioning an atom.
No prior art known to applicant discloses or suggests the repositioning of an atom or molecule from one position on the surface of a substrate to another position on said surface, or the repositioning of atoms or molecules of the same or different type on the same surface to fabricate a desired multi-atom structure, such as an electrical component, or to synthesize or cleave a multi-atom structure, such as a biological molecule (e.g., a protein or a nucleic acid), or a long-chain polymer.